Robin: Toy Wonder

text: Matt Alt & Robert Duban, graphics: Robert Duban

April 2007

Updated: 04.28.07

Details about Robin's exact founding remain unclear, but it's almost
certain that the company was yet another Bandai /
Popy subsidiary
used to sell low-end toys. We've taken the liberty of grouping their
toys into five groups based on the various logos employed on the
packages. With only a few exceptions, most of the toys fit neatly
into one of these periods. Oh, and before the mail from die-hard
Robin lovers starts pouring in, keep in mind that the years listed
below refer to the original airdates of the shows , not the exact
release dates of the toys (at present, said information remains
shrouded in the secrecy and mystery it so richly deserves.)
Hang on, because now it's time to go to school ToyboxDX style. The
first “Robin” logo, used circa 1974 to 1977, simply featured the
word “Robin” in a rounded font. Robin boasted several toy lines
during this period (including the thrilling “Go Go Series”).
The toys listed below in this section
are grouped by toy line / series.
Get ready for round two. From roughly 1985 to 1988, the Robin logo
began appearing in conjunction with the hallowed “P” (Popy) logo
found on other Bandai-related products. (For more about these
"friends of P," see Victora,
Grip Toy,
Marukoshi
and Big Bear). The
font for the logo in this period became harder and more squared off,
mirroring changes in society... Or perhaps simply because of the whim
of whoever was in charge at the time.
Robin seems to have had an as-yet-
unexplained hiatus between the 1977 and these mid-80s releases.
Intriguingly (or perhaps not so much), the majority of toys made by
Bandai subsidiary “Victora” appeared during the years of 1979 -
1985, neatly overlapping the gap. Toy-playaz including (and perhaps
limited to) the authors of this Datafile conjecture that Bandai may
have shifted their cheap-toy branding to Victora during this period.
In Robin’s third incarnation, from 1986 -1989, the storied “Robin”
logo disappeared from the packages altogether, the only sign of the
company's involvement was a simple “Robin” in plain text alongside the
“P” logo.
During the 1988 -1990 period, a new company logo began appearing on
Robin products: “Hearty Robin." The plain “Robin” text still
appeared on many of these toys as well, and again, the “P” logo
remained, mute and indomitable, a testament to the sheer power of
this stalwart letter of the alphabet. There appears to be some
overlap between the “Hearty Robin” and the “Robin” toys; not all
of the "Hearty Robin" toys feature the word "Robin" on their packages.
Robin / Hearty Robin entered its fifth transmutation in 1990, the
same year as the formation of yet another Bandai subsidiary, Yutaka.
The Hearty Robin toys from 1990 through the end of the decade
featured a “Y” logo in place of the “P”, the “Robin” text
dropped from the boxes altogether, discarded along the roadside like
a kleenex or a dead hooker. Yutaka is perhaps best known for the
series of “Getta Robo Go” toys produced in 1990, but the Yutaka logo
also appeared on literally hundreds of “cheapie” toys from 1990
onward. These numerous toys will be cataloged at a later date,
depending on the interest and blood-alcohol level of the authors.
Before your face hits the keyboard in a sudden-onset case of
narcolepsy, consider this fascinating nugget about “Hearty Robin.”
The company also produced video games, including a large number of
titles for the Sony Playstation in the early ‘90’s. In November of
1994, Hearty Robin merged with another Bandai Subsidiary, the
Happinet Corporation. Per Happinet’s
corporate website, the
company, “[took] over full ownership of Hearty Robin Corporation, (a
Taito-ku, Tokyo-based consolidated subsidiary specializing in the
manufacture and sale of toys and playthings)” in 1994. The company's final demise took place when
all former Robin employees were lined up in an Asakusa alley
and executed with a single shot to the back of the head. No, we're
just kidding. Hearty Robin's end was far less dramatic - it just took the form of a
"corporate re-org" when in September of 2002 the company
name was officially changed to “Happinet Robin Corporation.”